2018 United States Grand Prix - Austin, 19-21 October

[Sierra117]

Fun fact: since he was informed at Monza he wouldn’t be racing for Ferrari next season, Raikkonen has outscored Vettel, 75 to 62.

I mentioned sometime back in the Ferrari threads that Kimi, now released, will have a much clearer head, having had to deal with things that plummeted his motivation over the past races and needless to say that was very unpopular but here we are, Kimi unleashed

[PlatinumZealot]

Mercedes was very weak on the tyres this race, I guess the lack of preparation time and the higher tyre pressures issued by Pirelli hurt them the most. Ferrari and Red Bull could run on their tyres for ages!

[matt_b]

Mercedes was very weak on the tyres this race, I guess the lack of preparation time and the higher tyre pressures issued by Pirelli hurt them the most. Ferrari and Red Bull could run on their tyres for ages!

Maybe but they looked ok in the first stint. It would've been interesting to see what happened if Lewis looked after the tyres after the free pit stop rather than hunt down Kimi and destroy them in battle. I think his tyres would've only been 7 laps older than kimis with a big lead, clean air and track position.

[AnthonyG]

Mercedes was very weak on the tyres this race, I guess the lack of preparation time and the higher tyre pressures issued by Pirelli hurt them the most. Ferrari and Red Bull could run on their tyres for ages!

Indeed. Hamilton was lucky to get his (practically) free pitstop under VSC or he would have run into trouble like Bottas had.

[siskue2005]

Of course he is slow when he is just there to let Hamilton through and try to screw Vettel or Kimi. The guy is probably mentally crushed considering how many times he had to let other driver through and have his strategy decided based on trying to hold ferraris.

yeah when you are slow like that on the best car of the grid and get beaten by a guy starting 18th on the 3rd best car, then you deserve to be treated like a lap dog

It seems you forgot that his teammate on the best car of the grid starting from pole got beaten by a guy starting 18th on the 3rd best car and with the help of his teammate letting him through twice in the race.

you also seem to forget that his teammate made one pit stop more than him and still was just 1.5 sec behind the leader and was 10 sec clear of his slow teammate, that is how slow he was and also got overtaken by a guy who spun at lap 5 and was on same tyre life at the end..... that is how slow he was in this race. No wonder he is made a lapdog

[siskue2005]

Mercedes was very weak on the tyres this race, I guess the lack of preparation time and the higher tyre pressures issued by Pirelli hurt them the most. Ferrari and Red Bull could run on their tyres for ages!

Maybe but they looked ok in the first stint. It would've been interesting to see what happened if Lewis looked after the tyres after the free pit stop rather than hunt down Kimi and destroy them in battle. I think his tyres would've only been 7 laps older than kimis with a big lead, clean air and track position.

i also wonder why were they making him run that fast on the new soft tyres....they could have made him keep a 3 sec gap to Kimi and nurse the tyres to the end.

[AnthonyG]

Mercedes was very weak on the tyres this race, I guess the lack of preparation time and the higher tyre pressures issued by Pirelli hurt them the most. Ferrari and Red Bull could run on their tyres for ages!

Maybe but they looked ok in the first stint. It would've been interesting to see what happened if Lewis looked after the tyres after the free pit stop rather than hunt down Kimi and destroy them in battle. I think his tyres would've only been 7 laps older than kimis with a big lead, clean air and track position.

i also wonder why were they making him run that fast on the new soft tyres....they could have made him keep a 3 sec gap to Kimi and nurse the tyres to the end.

They couldn't. Your lapdog's tyre for example where completely shot at the end with the normal strategy, you could see the wire strings on tv.

[siskue2005]

Maybe but they looked ok in the first stint. It would've been interesting to see what happened if Lewis looked after the tyres after the free pit stop rather than hunt down Kimi and destroy them in battle. I think his tyres would've only been 7 laps older than kimis with a big lead, clean air and track position.

i also wonder why were they making him run that fast on the new soft tyres....they could have made him keep a 3 sec gap to Kimi and nurse the tyres to the end.

They couldn't. Your lapdog's tyre for example where completely shot at the end with the normal strategy, you could see the wire strings on tv.

hindsight is 20/20.... the increased tyre pressure overnight by pirelli is the real reason for the blisters.
If he had driven slowly and maintained the gap, then he could have held them back in the end with just one stop

[saviour stivala]

That would imply Max deserves a punch. He doesn't in this instance; he drove fair 'n square in the USGP.

Maybe he does deserve a rodeo though for the attrocious outfit he had.

A wise man will carefully calculate the chances of him being beaten to a bloody pulp before punching someone in the face.

Sadly, Ricciardo's wall did not have that luxury:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricc ... r/3199872/

Yes I have read about the hole punched in the wall (Horner). Ricciardo has chosen something to punch that cannot retaliate, wise move that.

[saviour stivala]

Fun fact: since he was informed at Monza he wouldn’t be racing for Ferrari next season, Raikkonen has outscored Vettel, 75 to 62.

fun fact bonus, If the championship started 5 races ago in Monza, Vettel is only 5th in the standings.

Yes, but the championship started in Melbourn 19 races ago.

[maxxer]

Verstappen did well to manage his supersoft tires, I think that the initial plan was to do a 2 stop.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqGHyqiXcAA5E_7.jpg:large

Vandoorne Gasly and Sirotkin also have to get fresh rubber after the vsc stop , but why they didnt pit hamilton a bit earlier because he had an nice 17 second margin which then dropped to 10 when they pulled him in.would have come out -3 instead of -9 or more

[maxxer]

And is Seb experimenting with the idea of reverse grids ? If he is gonna start from the back of the grid every race someone should tell him not to get to Q3 and have a free choice of tires and more fresh ones

[Fulcrum]

Mercedes was very weak on the tyres this race, I guess the lack of preparation time and the higher tyre pressures issued by Pirelli hurt them the most. Ferrari and Red Bull could run on their tyres for ages!

Maybe but they looked ok in the first stint. It would've been interesting to see what happened if Lewis looked after the tyres after the free pit stop rather than hunt down Kimi and destroy them in battle. I think his tyres would've only been 7 laps older than kimis with a big lead, clean air and track position.

i also wonder why were they making him run that fast on the new soft tyres....they could have made him keep a 3 sec gap to Kimi and nurse the tyres to the end.

Monza all over again, just this time it was Mercedes getting the limits of tyre wear wrong. In both cases reduced running on the compound resulted in poor forecasting of degradation.

[siskue2005]

Maybe but they looked ok in the first stint. It would've been interesting to see what happened if Lewis looked after the tyres after the free pit stop rather than hunt down Kimi and destroy them in battle. I think his tyres would've only been 7 laps older than kimis with a big lead, clean air and track position.

i also wonder why were they making him run that fast on the new soft tyres....they could have made him keep a 3 sec gap to Kimi and nurse the tyres to the end.

Monza all over again, just this time it was Mercedes getting the limits of tyre wear wrong. In both cases reduced running on the compound resulted in poor forecasting of degradation.

also the overnight tyre pressure increase cost them

[bosyber]

Also a possible reason: twitter user @Vetteleclerc posted:

http://Motorsport.com have understood that Mercedes had to close hub and rim holes with silicone. A move that the FIA has demanded, but without making any public communication. #F1

(how does one post a tweet here by the way?)

So if that's true, then the articles earlier this week that said those wheel rims were perfectly legal were not quite the full truth, and in combination with Friday time loss, and that late pressure increase, they seem back to their situation earlier in the year with tyres. At least it would explain those somewhat obscure 'other things' Hamilton referred to as to why they didn't win it.